Battery Metals

Russian mining giant Nornickel plans to increase the equity holdings of employees and other individuals to collectively comprise 25% of the company, up from 10% now, its largest shareholder Vladimir Potanin told RBC TV.

Nornickel, the world’s top palladium and refined nickel producer, was one of the biggest prizes in the post-Soviet carve-up of Russian industry in 1990s, and it currently employs 72,000 people.

“When Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) was privatised about 25% of shares were owned by employees,” Potanin said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. “I would like to recover this historical justice and make sure that 25% of Nornickel’s shares are returned to the people, including employees.”

Potanin said the change would be included in a 10-year programme called “Digital Investor” that would begin in 2023, and would involve digital financial assets and lock-up periods. He did not give further details about the plan or how the equity holdings would be increased.

Potanin’s holding, Interros, owns 36% of Nornickel.

Aluminum producer Rusal, which owns 26% of the company, did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Potanin in July floated the idea of a $60 billion merger of Nornickel with Rusal as a means of mitigating possible sanctions risks, but on Saturday said the idea had been postponed.

“I think the idea is still interesting, still alive, but we will have to put it off until later, when our colleagues are ready for talks on this,” Potanin said.

He also said a 10-year shareholder agreement protecting Nornickel’s dividend payouts was on track to expire at the end of 2022.

The deal ended a conflict between Interros and Rusal in 2012. There are no talks to renew the deal, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

Potanin also said Nornickel was preparing to reorient itself more towards Asian markets, to guard against any change in the West’s sanctions policy or clients trying to “twist our arms”.

Nornickel has not been directly targeted by the Western sanctions imposed on Moscow since it sent thousands of troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“Some of our partners are trying to revise the terms of existing contracts in their favour, trying to reduce the volume of purchases for the upcoming period, imposing on themselves a kind of self-sanctions, moving away from goods of Russian origin as much as possible,” the Potanin said.

In the first seven months of this year, Europe accounted for the usual 50% of Nornickel’s sales and the United States about 20%, he added.

NIO’s preparations for geographical expansion are progressing in Europe, where soon the first battery swap stations will be deployed in several new countries.

The NIO Power Europe Plant in Hungary already started operations and recently the first locally produced battery swap station rolled off the production line.

The modular station has been sent for installation in Germany (one of the first new markets), but before the end of this yea,r we will see battery swap stations also in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. Norway already has a few of them (supplied from China).

The infrastructure rollout is related to the upcoming launch of the NIO ET7, which is the company’s flagship premium sedan.

Here is a short demonstration of NIO’s second-generation Power Swap Station 2.0, introduced in April 2021, in Hungary:

This system has a total of 14 battery slots – 13 battery packs (vs 5 in the 1.0 version) and an empty slot to pick up a discharged battery (or old/previous generation battery when upgrading). According to NIO, they are capable of completing up to 312 battery swaps per day (24 hours), which would mean 4.6 minutes or close to 277 seconds per swap (including the automated parking.

Having such infrastructure, and compatible electric cars (currently only NIO models), long-distance travel should be possible at a similar speed as in the case of internal combustion engine cars, which has been recently demonstrated in Bjørn Nyland’s 1,000 km challenge. On the other hand, there is no definite answer whether as to if it will be a viable (more cost-effective) solution, compared to fast charging.

NIO plans to install over 4,000 battery swap stations by the end of 2025, including 1,000 or so outside of China. This week, the company reached 1,100 stations installed in its home market.

How might bio waste materials eventually be incorporated into sodium-ion batteries? That’s the question that a new strategic partnership hopes to answer. Australia-based Sparc Technologies will collaborate with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with the hope of identifying a significant alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Sustainable battery materials are in demand with the mass consumption of technology devices and electric vehicles, and sodium ion batteries (NIBs) have attracted worldwide attention for next generation energy storage systems.

A high performing, less expensive, sustainably sourced anode material for sodium-ion batteries could meet the need for what is a growing alternative battery technology. Researchers believe that sodium-ion batteries have significant potential for grid scale storage and mobile application. Wood Mackenzie expects sodium-ion batteries to take a share in passenger EVs and energy storage, reaching 20 GWh by 2030 in its base-case scenario.

Existing hard carbon materials are typically sourced from carbonaceous precursors such as pitch — a by-product of the oil and gas industry — which undergo lengthy heating at high temperatures. This is a very energy consuming process, which, combined with a high emission feed stock, has significant environmental impacts. The Sparc/ QUT project will develop a novel process for the production of hard carbon using low cost sustainably sourced green bio waste targeting the sodium-ion battery industry. The hard carbon materials will be characterized and tested in a sodium-ion cell format at QUT’s facilities for battery development and testing, including the National Battery Testing Center and Central Analytical Research Facility.

Advantages of sodium-ion batteries versus lithium-ion batteries, as outlined in a joint Sparc/QUT  press release, are:

• Lower cost and greater availability of raw materials
• Safety and ease of transport
• Similar manufacturing techniques to lithium-ion and, therefore, can use the same production facilities

The Sustainable Hard Carbon Anode project complements Sparc’s existing businesses in graphene and renewable energy. Graphene is a two-dimensional material made of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice; this structure creates unique and powerful properties that can be imparted on products to improve performance.

The framework for long term cooperation allows Sparc and QUT to work together to identify and undertake new projects. Sparc managing director Mike Bartels commented, “Sparc is excited to join with QUT in a Strategic Partnership, commencing with a project in the battery anode space with the development of a novel process for the production of hard carbon. Using readily available, sustainable bio waste material will provide Sparc with a strong environmental value proposition when compared with conventional sources of hard carbon.”

Bartels added that the materials used in sodium-ion batteries are accessible, not challenged in supply as is the case with lithium-ion batteries, and offer enhanced safety for industrial scale energy storage.

What’s the Story with Sodium-Ion Batteries?

Sodium has many attributes as a candidate for new battery technology, largely because it is inexpensive and abundant. Then again, its limited performance has stymied many other research projects and the hope for large scale applications.

Indeed, the severe instability of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formed during repeated cycling hinders the development of NIBs. One of the dilemmas is to stabilize the liquid core of the battery to prevent performance issues of past sodium-ion battery projects. As a battery goes through repeated cycles of charging and discharging, it loses its ability to hold a charge.

Cornell University researchers have also uncovered the source of a persistent problem limiting the durability of sodium-ion batteries. The poor durability stems from a specific atomic reshuffling in the battery’s operation – the P2-O2 phase transition – as ions traveling through the battery disorder crystal structures and eventually break them. While the phase transition has been of interest to researchers, the mechanisms behind it have been difficult to study, especially during battery operation.

What will it take for sodium-ion Sparc/QUT R&D to produce similar reliability results as the current leading battery sources?

The Contest Among Battery Technologies

The 3 battery technologies currently widely utilized are lead, lithium, and vanadium redox flow. There are a number of factors to consider when selecting the most appropriate battery chemistry to meet a company’s energy storage needs.

Maturity of technology: Lead is the most commercially mature of the three battery technologies and has been the primary energy storage solution for many years. Lithium is another commercially mature technology in the scale necessary at this time. With its high energy density, lithium is currently the dominant battery technology for energy storage and comes in a wide variety of chemistry combinations. Vanadium redox flow battery technology has been around for over 50 years, but is the least commercially mature of the 3 chemistries.

Sustainability: Lead is the most sustainable of the 3 battery chemistries with a 99% recycle rate and a well-developed circular economy that reuses and recycles the lead, electrolyte and plastic components of used batteries. Vanadium is almost infinitely reusable, as the electrolyte that constitutes the bulk of a vanadium battery system can be dried out, purified as necessary, and then used in another system. Lithium is the least sustainable, with a recycling rate of less 5%, due to the cost and complexity of the process — a lithium battery must be dismantled and shredded, then melted down or dissolved in acid.

Time of operation: Vanadium is best suited for long duration energy storage (6 hours or more operating time). It has a larger footprint, but it is easier to expand. Lithium is appropriate for short to medium duration (from a few minutes to four hours operating time). Lead also works best for short to medium duration, especially in situations where depth of discharge is fairly shallow and low up front cost is a major gating factor.

Useful life: The useful life of a lithium battery is about 10 to 15 years, while vanadium can last more than 30 years. Lead batteries can have a useful life up to 30 years, depending on the design and applications.

Safety: All 3 battery systems are generally safe, assuming there are no defects or damage.

Supply chain: Lead is readily available and domestically produced. Domestic recycling provides 73% of the domestic demand for lead. The US has about 4% of lithium reserves, and it produces less than 2% of the world’s supply. Currently, there is no domestic US production of vanadium, leaving the US dependent on foreign sources.

Final Thoughts

Energy and climate concerns have increased the need for research towards electrical energy storage. Because of the unique advantages of sodium ion batteries, such as cost and nearly unlimited resources, the interest in them has increased drastically over the last several years. The Sparc/QUT project gives hope for additional resources of sustainable battery materials and the potential to incorporate more environmentally friendly and even less expensive options than lithium-ion batteries provide.

A new Canadian Solar battery product will be unveiled at the RE+ conference in Anaheim, California, a large event that will bring together leaders in renewable energy and clean technologies from Sept. 19-22.

The battery is a utility-scale lithium-ferro-phosphate (LFP) battery with a 2.8 MWh energy capacity. LFP chemistry is hailed for cutting the risk of thermal runway, or fires, that can be problematic in other lithium-based battery systems.

Called the SolBank, the system is designed for safety, reliability, and bankability. The battery enclosure contains liquid cooling mechanisms and humidity control, and active balancing battery management systems. The company said the technology complies with the latest international safety standards.

Canadian Solar’s majority owned subsidiary CSI Energy Storage produces the unit in Jiangsu Province, China. The current annual battery manufacturing output capacity is 2.5 GWh and is expected to reach 10 GWh by the end of 2023.

The SolBank product will be displayed at Canadian Solar’s booth #2204, Anaheim Convention Center, Halls A-D.

CSI Energy Storage also provides full commissioning and integration services, turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction project execution and long-term operational service and capacity maintenance. As of Q2 2022, the company’s system integration total pipeline reached 11 GWh, including 861 MWh under long-term service agreements, 1.9 GWh under construction or contracted and an additional earlier stage pipeline of 8.2 GWh.

“Our manufacturing capacity in battery storage will spur the continued growth of our battery storage solutions business, which will in turn enhance the synergies with our battery storage project development business,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, chair and CEO of Canadian Solar. “Solar plus battery storage will be one of the key solutions to combat climate change.”

Residential battery

Additionally, Canadian Solar recently announced an all-in-one residential battery and hybrid inverter, called the EP Cube, also to be displayed at RE+.

One unit can scale from 9.9 kWh to 19.9 kWh in capacity, and up to six units can be connected in parallel, achieving 119.9 kWh of storage and 45.6 kW output, said the company. This is more than enough to fully power the average home with high-surge-current appliances and AC units.

EP Cube is designed to be lightweight and easy to install, featuring all-inclusive components and self-configuration for fast commissioning. Each battery module weighs less than 70 lbs., significantly lower than many residential units, which can weigh upwards of 300 lbs. The battery module measures only 6.25 inches thick and is NEMA 4X rated for both indoor and outdoor use.

The battery is compatible with the EP Cube app, which allows homeowners to monitor production and consumption in real time. Homeowners have access to their energy management through the app, and installers use the app to set up and troubleshoot the system. Updates are made remotely to the battery management system.

Over the past two decades, Canadian Solar has delivered over 76 GW of solar modules to customers across the world. Since entering the project development business in 2010, the company has developed, built and connected over 6.8 GW in over 20 countries across the world. Currently, the company has about 311 MW of solar projects in operation, 5.3 GW of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 21 GW of projects in pipeline (mid- to early-stage).

Tesla has access to all the battery cells it needs for the first time, according to Martin Viecha, the vice president of investor relations at Tesla.

If you have been following Tesla for a long time, there’s a term you should be extremely familiar with by now: production constrained.

For years now, Tesla has been trying to dispel rumors that it has any problem with demand and always replies that its main issue in ramping up electric vehicle deliveries has been its production capacity.

There have been many different bottlenecks in the production and supply chain over the years, but the most common one has been battery cells.

Tesla was the first company to utilize li-ion battery cells in production vehicles and since then, every automaker has rushed to secure the supply of the battery cells for their own EV ambitions. This has resulted in very limited availability of battery cells in the industry.

Only over the last year, we heard Tesla say for the first time that battery cells weren’t actually a concern.

Now Martin Viecha, the vice president of investor relations at Tesla, said Monday during a presentation at the Goldman Sachs tech conference in San Francisco that Tesla currently has all the supply it needs (via Business Insider):

“For the first time I can remember, we can access all the supply we need for both businesses.”

Viecha is referencing “both businesses” because for the longest time Tesla had to limit its production of energy products, like Powerwalls and Megapack, to use its battery supply for its electric vehicles.

Recently, we see the result of the higher availability of battery cells with new record output for both Powerwalls and Megapacks.

The executive is crediting Tesla expanding beyond just Panasonic and adding new battery suppliers like CATL and LG Energy Solutions for the higher battery cell supply.

Tesla itself plans to add to the supply with the volume production of its own 4680 battery cell by the end of the year at Gigafactory Texas.

However, Viecha also warned that the supply chain will need to keep growing at a record pace to support the industry:

“This is the most important part of how this industry can growth in the future. If the industry can 10X from here, the supply chain will need to 10X as well,”

Tesla plans to contribute through deeper investments throughout the supply chain with its recent off-take agreements with both junior mining companies and established mining giants.